As we mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, we express our outrage at Israel’s ceasefire violations across Palestine and the broader region, and Canada’s ongoing role in enabling Israel’s genocide. It is this reality that calls on us to strengthen our conviction to Palestinian self-determination and freedom.

Despite a supposed ceasefire agreement, the people of Gaza continue to be killed by Israeli bombs, and face ongoing displacement and starvation through Israel’s total siege and occupation of the strip. In the West Bank, Palestinians face escalated settler violence, as the Israeli government passes legislation that further enshrines the annexation and occupation of Palestinian land. Harrowing stories of torture continue to emerge from Israeli prisons, where thousands of Palestinians are illegally detained by Israel – some having been held for decades, and many being held under administrative detention without charges or trial.

It is under these conditions that we mark this day, which affirms Palestinian self-determination and freedom from apartheid and occupation. This belief, despite being held by the majority of people across the world, and an increasingly important value for Canadians across this country, is one that has not been championed by the Canadian government.

On the contrary, Canada has continued to enable Israel’s genocide: failing to implement sanctions on Israel, and refusing to impose a two-way arms embargo to ensure that weapons and weapons components manufactured in Canada do not make their way to Israel. On the world stage, Canada has continued to provide diplomatic cover for Israel, refusing to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes.

Under Carney’s government, we have seen priorities reflecting an increased military budget, and a continued crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices and organizers — exemplified through the government’s opposition to Bill C-233 which aims to close the U.S. loophole that allows for military goods from Canada to reach Israel via the U.S., and through its advancement of Bill C-9 which provides a legal foundation to intensify repression against the pro-Palestine movement.

But Canada’s continued role in Israel’s genocide is at odds with the growing movement of people across the country who oppose Israel’s genocide and demand that Canada represent the values of democracy and human rights that it claims to believe in. People like each one of us, who for the past two years have participated in mass mobilizations, met with our elected representatives, contacted media outlets to demand fair coverage, raised funds for Gaza, and built communities determined to end Israel’s genocide and occupation. This work has played a critical role in shifting public opinion, placing pressure on the Canadian government and complicit institutions, and building mass support for the Palestinian struggle.

Canada’s ongoing failure to even identify Israel’s actions as genocide shows that our work is far from complete. On this day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People, CJPME affirms and renews our commitment to rising to the task of principled solidarity through campaigns, advocacy, and grassroots movement building. We will continue to challenge Canada’s ongoing complicity in genocide by lobbying for principled foreign policy on Parliament Hill, holding news media and journalists to account, and campaigning for boycotts of complicit Israeli companies and institutions.

In solidarity,

Yara Shoufani
President, CJPME